An Incomplete and Inaccurate History of Sport: With random thoughts from childhood. And with random thoughts from times other than childhood . . .

Description

Painstakingly faithful to its title, Kenny Mayne's book is neither complete nor is it particularly accurate. Ostensibly an A-to-Z encyclopedia of all known sports, many sports are never mentioned. There's not a word about rugby, volleyball, Roller Derby, swimming, or (shockingly) Basque pelota or shinty. There is a chapter about sliding, but none about skiing. Competitive eating and rhythmic gymnastics will have to wait for another book. However, there are roughly eight chapters about tackle football--"the greatest sport in the world, and everyone knows it"--and a good four or five about horse racing, so quit complaining before you've even read the book. There will be plenty of time for complaining after you've finished it (about an hour from now--tops). Those sports that are covered in the book are examined with exhaustive inattention to unretained detail. Many chapters have nothing to do with sport. For instance, the chapter on hunting is about hunting for a...